the changing face of test management in an agile world

The Changing Face of Test Management

A reflection on test management, past, present and future

Ben Williams & Tom Roden  #StarEast

About Us

Ben Williams – Agile Coach @13enWilliams

Tom Roden – Agile Coach & Test <something> @TommRoden

“As agile methods continue to replace traditional, the role of test manager will cease to exist.

Test managers will cover a different role, with a broader scope, utilising a different skillset.

Teams will assume more accountability for test activities, above and beyond what they may have done in the past”

Our Hypothesis

Test manager is not the same as

Test management

Test management of the past (parody)

Analysis

Blue sky, thought showering ideation

Development

Implement

All conceivable testing

Utterly  Immovable  Live Date

All conceivable testing, hey maybe even unit testing ☺

Test Planning

1. Random dev-test ratio estimation

2. The narrow-band faux-Delphi

3. The project manager Pareto

Test Estimation Techniques

Exploratory testing =

Smoke testing =

Stress testing =

Penetration testing =

We say… They hear…

Step 1. Remove brain

Step 2. Login to Quality Centre

Step 3. Follow 67 more steps of set-up and screen navigation, but don’t look at how the application is behaving

Step 4. Test fails for reason unrelated to test step

Step 5. Step 4 does not compute with script, loop thru step 4 until sickness or darkness descends

If the test didn’t find the defect, does the defect really exist?

Stay On Target

Test Management of the Present (at a junction?)

Our underlying assumptions

Agile is still on the increase

Computer  Weekly  Jobs,  8th  November  2012

There is no prescribed Test Manager role in Agile methods

What does this mean?

What are the choices for traditional test managers?

Stay in the market for traditional Test Management?

http://rontalk.com/

Get into another profession entirely?

http://byrev.org/

Make the voyage into Agile?

Any other options

?

Exploring the move to Agile…

What roles are there in Agile?Feature Team

Member  

Product Owner   Scrum Master  

Coach?   Project Manager?  

Test Manager?  

Development Manager?  

?

We did a survey…

Has the role changed?• 90% have experienced a change in responsibilities

How many have experienced a change?

lots  of  peoplealmost  no-­‐one

People reported an increase in…– Coaching practices & techniques – Mentoring – Stakeholder Management – Cross team knowledge

People reported a decrease in…– Planning – Reporting – Test Strategies – Project admin – Project and Programme Management – Reviewing Documentation

People reported no change in…– Budgeting & Staffing

– Training

– Governance & project assurance

– Reviewing tests

– Unblocking

– Metrics & instrumentation

Test Management of the Future

“As agile methods continue to replace traditional, the role of test manager will cease to exist.

Test managers will cover a different role, with a broader scope, utilising a different skillset.

Teams will assume more accountability for test activities, above and beyond what they may have done in the past”

Our Hypothesis

It Makes an interesting workshop

Inside the team or

Outside the team

Defect management?

Inside the team Outside the team

Test Automation?

Inside the team Outside the team

Test Tool Selection?

Inside the team Outside the team

Principles & Strategy?

Inside the team Outside the team

Principles of Testing

Source – Tom Roden & Paul Wilford 2013, SQS

Building self-regulation

Other areas to consider…• Remove testing obstacles

• Stimulate improvement in Testing

• Foster a collective quality conscience

• Converge and disperse knowledge

• Help make Testing visible

• Instrument the hell out of stuff

• Get in there and test, pair, run spec workshops

• Mentoring, coaching and extended learning

• Talent acquisition and skills liquidity

In order that you ensure quality As a team member I want you to be responsible for a lot more

There should be no-one with the job title

Test Manager in Agile Organisations!!!

This isn’t Management

Test “Managers”, the point is…

Stop Managing Start enabling!!!

What do YOU do?

Ben Williams – ben.williams@neuri.co.uk @13enWilliams

Tom Roden – tom.roden@neuri.co.uk @TommRoden